


An Unintended Offering

by IShouldBeWriting, Night-Mare (Aoife)



Category: Ancient Persian Religion & Lore
Genre: Childbirth, Collection: Purimgifts Day 1, Conversations with Deities, Digital Art, Gen, Ritual, Unintended Offerings & Sacrifices
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-08
Updated: 2017-03-08
Packaged: 2018-10-01 06:27:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10182914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IShouldBeWriting/pseuds/IShouldBeWriting, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aoife/pseuds/Night-Mare
Summary: Even if the throes of childbirth, one should always be careful about the bargains that are made.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Daegaer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daegaer/gifts).



She went down to the waters

rich with henna colored mud,

down to the waters so old

that they had been there

at the first of the world.

Or so the stories said.

 

She went down to the waters and knelt in prayer.  

 

She wasn’t particular

about whom she addressed her prayers to.

Wasn’t careful of the way she knelt

in the shallow waters at the edge

of the wide, wide river

or the way that she bled into those waters.

 

She merely prayed,

begged those that would listen

that she could, _would_

birth a child soon.

That she could cast off

the influence that was riding her and -

 

There was a woman, where none had been before.

 

They could have been twins,

though the woman was draped in beaver fur.

The hands of she-that-was-not-her-twin were cool,

as she whispered of the child her womb would bear,

if only she would remember her

and address all prayers and future offerings to her.

 

And what of my child she asked warily?

Yes she-that-was-not-her-twin replied,

her life you will offer up as well.

And if I refuse?

A fur covered arm pointed to the river’s edge,

already stained crimson with her blood.

 

The offering has already been made.

 

Her child is pretty and uncanny and everything she'd wished for;

but her hair has undertones of blue for those who can look

and it reminds her of her promise.

So she takes the child with her,

and kneels in the water again,

and names her for the lady who walks out of those waters.

 

Her child grows,

and entrances the men in the village,

but rather than succumb to any of them,

her child lives

and loves

and dances.

 

And one day she walks back into the waters.

 

 

 

 

Save

Save


End file.
